Romo “getting close” in rehab, working with David Cutcliffe

Last offseason, one of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ proclamations was that he wanted quarterback Tony Romo to take on a Peyton Manning-esque approach to his job.

Romo appears to be going that route on one front. Romo and Cowboys coach Jason Garrett were decked out in Duke gear and in the stands for Duke’s basketball game against North Carolina on Saturday and Jeff Gravley of WRAL reports that they have been working with Duke football coach David Cutcliffe. Cutcliffe was Manning’s offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee and has remained a frequent collaborator with the Broncos quarterback.

One of the times Manning and Cutcliffe worked together was in the wake of Manning’s neck surgery and Romo is taking a page from that book as he makes his way back from back surgery. Romo told ESPN during the game that his recovery was going well and that he expects to be on the field for OTAs.

“We’re getting close now. Usually takes three months, it’s just normal kinda roundabout date that they give you and we’re right on schedule,” Romo said. “Really ahead in a lot of ways. Just going to be ready to go here in about a month and rehab is going good, no setbacks of any kind. Mine [surgery] was just a normal small version of it, so I should be good to go here shortly.”

Neither Cutcliffe nor anyone else is going to turn Romo into Manning, but focusing on mechanics in the wake of surgery the way Manning did can’t be a bad thing for the Cowboys quarterback.

Romo was never the second coming of Staubach or Aikman. He is closer to Rypen, Theismann, Stabler, Plunkett. Very good QBs that won a SB with some help. He’s a hell alot bettef QB than Wilson. All he needs is a defense that is little better than historically bad one.